Masque of the Red Death

Francesca:
Is there anything to fear in that room?

Prospero:
The uninvited have much to fear.

Prospero:
God's dead! Satan killed him!

Prospero:
The Red Death is laying waste to the countryside!

Scarlatti:
The Red Death? I beg you, Prospero, sanctuary!

Prospero:
This is no church!

Prospero:
That cross you wear around your neck; is it only a decoration, or are you a true Christian believer?

Francesca:
Yes, I believe - truly.

Prospero:
Then I want you to remove it at once! And never to wear it within this castle again! Do you know how a falcon is trained my dear? Her eyes are sown shut. Blinded temporarily she suffers the whims of her God patiently, until her will is submerged and she learns to serve - as your God taught and blinded you with crosses.

Francesca:
You had me take off my cross because it offended...

Prospero:
It offended no one. No - it simply appears to me to be discourteous to... to wear the symbol of a deity long dead.

Prospero:
My ancestors tried to find it. And to open the door that separates us from our Creator.

Francesca:
But you need no doors to find God. If you believe...

Prospero:
Believe? If you believe you are gullible. Can you look around this world and believe in the goodness of a god who rules it? Famine, Pestilence, War, Disease and Death! They rule this world.

Francesca:
There is also love and life and hope.

Prospero:
Very little hope I assure you. No. If a god of love and life ever did exist... he is long since dead. Someone... something, rules in his place.

Prospero:
But I made a pact with Satan!

Man in red:
He alone does not rule the universe.

Prospero:
No! There is no other ruler, God's dead!

Man in red:
Man creates his own God, his own devil, his own heaven and his own hell. This is your hell.

Man in red:
Why are you afraid to die Prospero? Your soul died a long time ago.

Alfredo:
You promised me entertainment, I never expected this. Have such eyes seen sin?

Prospero:
They will.

Alfredo:
Wherever did you find her?

Prospero:
Pretty toy isn't she?

Alfredo:
I wonder...

Prospero:
I'm sure you do Alfredo, the same way you wonder about all the other women in my court.

Francesca:
Juliana betrayed us.

Prospero:
She betrayed ME.

Prospero:
I beg you do not mourn for Juliana. We should celebrate. She's just married a friend of mine.

Scarlatti:
Sir, at least spare my wife. I give her to you to do what you please.

Prospero:
I've already had that doubtful pleasure.

Prospero:
How like a worm you are. Be one.

Prospero:
I don't corrupt, I inform.

Prospero:
The way is not easy, I know, but I will take you by the hand and lead you through the cruel light into the velvet darkness.

Francesca:
Forgive them!

Prospero:
Forgive them? If my hound bites my hand after I have fed and caressed him, should I allow him to go undisciplined?